Flying
by kassidanae
Summary: Ginny, upset, snaps at Hermione about how she knows nothing about Quidditch. Hermione decides to get Ron to teach her about it. Turns out, they don't just learn about Quidditch. I know it's been done. I still couldn't get it out of my head.


An idea I can't seem to get out of my head. And I know I don't own Harry Potter. And All that stuff... Enjoy!

* * *

"I don't believe this," said Hermione. "You're actually defending—"

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'try this out, it's really good"—he was just making notes for himself, not anyone else…."

"Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back—?"

"And get the book? Yeah, I am." said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felics. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have—"

"—got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, and Harry was so amazed, so grateful, he looked up. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"

"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match—"

"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll embarrass yourself."

_Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, (most of) page 530_

_J.K. Rowling_

* * *

It only look a few more minutes before Ginny, after enduring a ten minute long death stare from Hermione, went upstairs declaring she was 'exhausted.' A few minutes after her, Harry went to bed too with a silly-happy look on his face. After getting yet _another_ confused look from Ron, Hermione stormed outside, out the portrait, and started pacing right outside the hall.

"Why I never..… You'd think that..… I mean, I'm still….. I can't believe that….. In the wizarding world..… It's not like Quidditch..…" Hermione kept mindlessly muttering for a few more minutes and didn't hear the portrait door open again. "You'd think that , in the wizarding world, you're measured by your knowledge of stupid, stupid Quidditch!"

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron asked.

Hermione jumped in surprise, turned to him, and blushed. "Nothing! Nothing, I just needed some un-breathed air. There were a lot of people in the common room."

"Yeah," Ron snorted, "like an hour ago. We were the only two in there."

"Oh." Hermione looked at the floor. "Oh. Well… Um… Ron, can I ask you for a favor?"

Ron laughed. "Of course. What do you need?"

"Um…" Hermione bit her lower lip. "Can you teach me about Quidditch? I mean, I understand enough to follow the games here at school but let's face it, I was lost at the World Cup and I'm sick of everyone making fun of me for not knowing how to play."

"Oh come on, you're not still upset about what Ginny said to you, are you? She was just upset. She didn't mean it." Ron explained.

"But that doesn't stop her from being RIGHT, Ron." Hermione huffed.

Ron grinned. "Oh course. Come back inside though. If a teacher comes by, we're toast." They walked inside and he led her to sit at a table. Ron ran upstairs and came back a few minutes later with quills and spare parchment. Quickly, he drew a rectangular Quidditch field, complete with lines and goal posts.

"Okay, there are four balls." Ron started. Hermione nodded. "The main ball, the one they score points with, is called the Quaffle. Each goal is ten points. The positions that deal with the Quaffle the most are the Chasers. There are three Chasers, ours being usually Ginny, Dean, Demelza, and Katie."

Hermione nodded again. She _kind of_ knew this stuff, but it was okay hearing it again. She could never remember. "Three chasers are responsible for scoring points with the Quaffle and outs are Katie, Dean, and Demelza. Got it so far."

"Next we have Bludgers." Ron said. Hermione shivered a bit; she _hated_ Bludgers. "Bludgers and Beaters. Ours are Jimmy and Ritchie. The bludgers try to knock the other team off their brooms and the Beaters protect their own team. They also try to harm the other team as much as possible."

"That sounds… Terrible. Why would you want to hurt someone else?" Hermione asked.

Ron looked at her skeptically. "Malfoy used to play on Slytherin's team."

"Good point."

"Anyway, next we have the Snitch and the Seeker. Usually our Seeker is Harry, but seeing as he just cursed Malfoy and has detention, Ginny's our Seeker. The Seeker tries to find the Snitch. As soon as he or she does, the team gets one hundred and fifty points and the game is over." Ron said as he doodled a snitch in the corner of the parchment.

"So the Seeker ends the game? Sounds like a pretty important player." Hermione shrugged. "But not as important as the Keeper." She winked.

Ron laughed. "Yeah, I suppose the Keeper is pretty important. As long as he doesn't suck."

Hermione looked at Ron doubtfully. "You don't suck."

Ron rolled his eyed. "Yeah, I do. But anyway, the Keeper blocks the Quaffle from going into the hoops when the Chasers try to score."

"Okay." Hermione said, biting her lower lip. "We have three Chasers, Katie, Dean, and Demelza who score the points, ten points per goal. We have to Beaters who protect the team from Bludgers and ours are Jimmy and Ritchie. The Seeker ends the game and searches for the Snitch, which is one hundred and fifty points. The Keeper protects the goals and keeps the other team from scoring."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. But I understand the games are quick and therefore more difficult to follow."

"If only there was a way to get out to the field. I'm sure I could really understand it if I only…" Hermione trailed off.

Ron half grinned at her. "You know, we could… But never mind, we're prefects."

Hermione looked at him hesitantly for a minute. "No. Let's go."

"What?" Ron exclaimed.

"Lets go outside. I really want to get this." Hermione said excitedly.

Ron ran upstairs and jostled Harry awake. "Harry, can I borrow your Firebolt?" he asked.

"Yeah whatever. Just go away." Harry said, rolling over and going back to sleep. Ron grinned at him and grabbed Harry's Firebolt and his Cleansweep. Running downstairs with the two broomsticks, he grabbed Hermione's hand and they walked to the Quidditch field. Although Ron hadn't seemed to notice, Hermione could not ignore the fact that he was _holding her hand_.

When they arrived at the field, Ron released Hermione's hand and handed her Harry's Firebolt. "Harry let us borrow this."

"No. I'm not flying. I… I can't." Hermione said, backing away from the broomstick.

"Come off it, Hermione. It's not going to bite." Ron laughed.

"No." Hermione said darkly, "but I could fall off it from high up and kill myself. I'm… I'm afraind of heights."

Ron looked at her, troubled, for a moment before motioning her towards him. She took two steps towards him and when he told her to mount it, she did. Before he told her to push off, though, he climbed on behind her.

"Are you sure this thing can hold both of us?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking.

"It will unless you weigh more than three hundred pounds. This thing is made to hold up to five hundred." Ron reassured.

Hermione nodded and felt Ron kick off. She squeezed her eyes tight and held on to the handle with all her might. She heard Ron laugh behind her. "You're not going to fall off."

"How to you know?" she snapped.

"Because, " he smiled, "I would never let you fall."

Hermione look a deep breath and turned her head to look at him. Unfortunately, before she could look at him she looked down. "Bloody hell, how high are we!" Hermione screeched.

Ron could barely hold in his laughter. "Language, Hermione."

Hermione glared at him. "Oh I'll curse at you all I want when you risk my life."

"We're about fifty feet up. Hermione I won't let you fall, don't worry. I would never put you in a life threatening situation." Ron whispered in her ear. They rode around for a half an hour as he pointed out everything you could see from that height. Then they slowly began their descend.

When they got back to solid ground, Ron handed Hermione the Firebolt. "Now that I know you can do it, you have to do it alone. We don't have to go as high, I promise."

Hermione determinedly nodded and grabbed the Firebolt. She mounted it and pushed herself off wordlessly. Ron followed her up and Hermione stopped around thirty feet. "I refuse to go any higher."

"I didn't even expect you to go this high, honestly. I thought you'd make it to, what? Three feet?" Ron teased.

Hermione made a face at him. "Okay Mr. Instructor. What do I do?"

Ron grinned Hermione's favorite smile. "To turn you just have to lean in that direction. To go forward you have to lean down, and to dive you have to lean and push the end down… I don't know, you just have to feel it."

Hermione nodded and tried it out. After a few minutes, she and Ron were racing around the field. "This is crazy!" she called. "I can't believe I'm doing this!" Ron laughed and hovered in the middle of the field to watch her. She was such a natural.

Giggling gleefully, Hermione turned her broom towards him and hovered beside him. "Wait here." He said. He went into a dive, went into the Gryffindor changing room, and came out with a Quaffle and two Quidditch robes, both claiming 'Weasley' on the back.

"I borrowed Ginny's robe for you. Don't think she'll mind. You can be 'Hermione Weasley' tonight." He grinned at her blush. While in the air, they both pulled on the robes and Ron tossed her the Quaffle. "Care to play a one-on-one game? Just for a little bit." He asked.

Hermione laughed and nodded. For another hour or so, the two chased each other across the field, attempting to throw the ball into each other's hoops. "If you had tried out for the team, you'd have made a good Chaser." Ron commented.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever." They landed and put everything away.

"Care to go on one more ride?" Ron asked, holding the Firebolt out to her.

"Yeah." She said, taking the broom and setting it aside, "but only together." She grinned.

Ron took her hand and pulled her over to him. She climbed on behind him. He pushed off and flew even higher that they had been that night. "Ron, this is amazing." She breathed.

Ron smiled at the look of wonder in her eyes. "Yeah, it is." He replied. Hermione gigled and blushed. Then, very carefully, she turned so she was sitting sideways on the broom.

"I'm glad I get to share it with you." She whispered. Hermione and Ron iust looked at each other, not believing this for almost a full minute before he kissed her. It was unexpected and surprising and amazing and… Hermione just stopped analyzing it and enjoyed it.

* * *

The next morning, Harry and Ginny came down the stairs at about the same time. Asleep on the coush they saw Hermione with her head on Ron's chest with their arms around each other. In front of them was a piece of parchment with a Quidditch field on it. Two brooms lay discarded on the other side of the couch.

"Reckon we should wake them up before Lavender comes down? I know they're broken up and all, but she'll still be upset, don't you think?" Harry whispered.

Ginny smiled. "Let them have their moment. God only knows how bad both of them want each other and with them fighting all the time… Let's just let them have it."

Harry smiled at her. "You're right. Should we go to breakfast?"

Ginny looked at him with a michevious glint in her eye. "It the great Harry Potter asking me to breakfast with him?"

Harry laughed. "Consider it a date."

Ginny grinned and took his hand in hers. "Oh, I will."

* * *

I know Ron and Hermione don't get together for another book... And Harry and Ginny not for another chapter or two... But it's my HBP missed moment.


End file.
